A Bellambi P-plater who shot video of herself speeding through the streets of Wollongong then posted it on Snapchat was sold out to police by a friend, a court has heard.
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Rebecca Anne Shepstone, 18, used her mobile phone to film herself driving her Citroen hatchback at speeds of up to 128km/h between Wollongong and Balgownie before crashing the vehicle in the early hours of July 26.
Police documents detailing the dangerous escapade were tendered to Wollongong Local Court on Tuesday after Shepstone entered pleas of guilty to reckless driving, driving without a licence and using a mobile phone.
The court heard Shepstone’s licence had been suspended a week before the incident after she was caught driving more than 45km/h over the speed limit. She’d had her licence for just three months at the time.
Despite this, Shepstone got behind the wheel about 3.30am on July 26 and drove from Corrimal to Wollongong to get McDonalds.
After picking up her food, she filmed herself driving north on Corrimal Street at a speed of 100km/h in the signposted 60km/h zone.
She was heard on the video saying “head check for the coppers” while eating, filming and driving.
Shepstone continued onto Kembla Street, then George Henley Drive and Squires Way, passing the University of Wollongong’s Innovation Campus at nearly 130km/h with the camera still rolling.
As she approached Balgownie, Shepstone was overheard saying “this is what I do when I get angry” and “I got control bitches”.
Ironically, Shepstone lost control of the vehicle and ran off the road just moments later after failing to make the turn into Foothills Road.
She got out of the damaged car and filmed it in its undriveable state before calling on her mother to pick her up and take her to her father’s house in Bellambi.
Police spoke with Shepstone an hour later. They said she was behaving erratically but admitted driving and crashing the car and showed no remorse for her actions.
In the meantime, Shepstone had uploaded videos of her antics to Snapchat and shared it with friends, one of whom provided the footage to police the following day.
Arresting officers were so appalled by Shepstone’s manner of driving they told the court she did not deserve to hold a driver’s licence.
In court on Tuesday, Magistrate Robert Walker fined Shepstone $1600, placed her on a 12-month bond and disqualified her licence for three years. She will be supervised by Community Corrections as part of her sentence.
